“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

It's such a stunning phenomenon, this, what... third of the population?

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. (Sir Winston Churchill).

That's for sure. The U.S. election is less than two days away. I have seen the polls go from Obama to Romney and now back to Obama. And it all changed on such superficial stuff:
Obama's personality and likability. >> Obama leads
The first debate where apparently Romney "won" >> Romney leads
The Hurricane Sandy where Obama looked all compassionate and presidential. >> Obama leads

Instead of real issues or policies, the average voter chooses on personality and trends; pretty scary, but at least it looks like Romney will lose (at the moment) whatever the motivations.

So much for Meatloaf. What you are seeing in this -- the subtext -- is a fear of the browning of America and having an uppity blackman in the White House has driven home the fact that America is changing in very pronounced ways. As for the 7:23 man, he is throwing a name, having no idea what it mean, because it sounds so completely other than what he knows.

>> Do you see a man wise[enlightened/ariya]in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723

Yeah,I also thought that it was interesting when the voters were asked about Romney's plan - no one had a clue. Still, that could have been edited that way.
From an outsider's perspective - I reckon O'Bama has been an excellent president - despite the mess he inherited.
Interesting days ahead, no doubt.

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Well, America is the country which is giving the world (an on the behalf of my country let me offer my most sincere apologies) the adventures of Honey Boo-Boo. If you don't know what the heck a "Honey Boo-Boo" is, until yesterday neither did I. H.P. Lovecraft wrote that there are some things in the universe the knowledge of which would shatter the mind. Consumed by insatiable curiosity, I fell prey to demented madness and had to find out what all the talk of this "Honey Boo-Boo" was about. After a little research, and much verification to assure that it wasn't some kind of hoax, I now know what Lovecraft meant. My next move is finding a neurosurgeon to excise the portion of my brain containing the knowledge of this unspeakable horror. If I lose the use of the entire left side of my body, it's a small price. I suspect the people in that posted video would find Honey BB (no relation) unbearably CUTE.

History will no longer remember America as the land of the free and the home of the the brave, but the land of the chubby and the home of the southern deep-fried. Write the station, petition Congress, stage protests, boycott sponsors--whatever it takes--but bury this abomination for God's sake.

Honey BubbaBuddhist

Author of Redneck Buddhism: or Will You Reincarnate as Your Own Cousin?

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

The whole video is full of gems, and the buddhist one is one of the best ones.

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'
(Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Ben wrote:Yeah,I also thought that it was interesting when the voters were asked about Romney's plan - no one had a clue. Still, that could have been edited that way.
From an outsider's perspective - I reckon O'Bama has been an excellent president - despite the mess he inherited.
Interesting days ahead, no doubt.

A columnist in Time magazine summed up the situation this way: Romney's plan is ridiculous and no-one really knows what Obama's plan is.
From where I stand it looks like Obama inherited a horrible mess and has done an incredibly good job at extracting the country from it in the face of viciously partisan opposition. I would support him (if I was in the US) just for those reasons, but I also prefer most of his social policies.
Both sides kept climate change out of the debate until a few days ago when Sandy forced it on people's attention (see, e.g., http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/1 ... ng-stupid/) but IMO Romney's policies in this area are absolutely pigheadedly disastrous while Obama's are about as good as any US president could realistically hope to achieve.

Less respected around the world?
at 5:05 is laughable, if anything USA is more respected now than the hatred felt towards them under Bush.
Romney managed to "piss off" both the Conservative (middle right) Prime Minister of the UK and Mayor of London who should be ideologically closer than Obama. or how about his other insults to other countries.

But a serious question. Is the USA the only country that think free nationalised health care is communist?

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

Well, I guess I'll take the risk and find out what a Honey Boo Boo is. My curiosity is too big.

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'
(Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Fortunately I didn't do extensive research on the honey boo boo. One episode is more than enough time thrown away.

And yes, the honey boo boo show seems to symbolise one third of USA.

He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'
(Jhana Sutta - Thanissaro Bhikkhu translation)

Cittasanto wrote:
But a serious question. Is the USA the only country that think free nationalised health care is communist?

Probably.

Universal free health care is, ironically, something China seems to have abandoned, or at least, is in the process of abandoning (based on conversations with Chinese colleagues), and something most Asian countries never had. Not like the European and Australasian socialist paradises...

"This land is born for the freedom of everybody. We welcome anybody in our country...which is great
but with that we paying the consequences coz we let them tell us you're gonna follow my religion because I don't believe in you...."

"Who are them you keep referring to them?"

"Ah... the the Buddhists...all there ...I am not...they are there...we all know" (hesitatingly).

"You think Buddhists have come into the country and taken over your religion?"

(fireworks...)

More specifically it seems to be the fault of immigrants who are also Buddhists.

Recently two Christian women came to my apartment to talk about how their religion deals with corruption and suffering of the world. However, I happened to talk more about Buddha's teaching on suffering than they about Christianity. Probably I scared them off. Seems like I should stop doing that for the sake of freedom of America.

I used to do the same thing with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons when they came to the door. One time I actually invited a young Mormon couple into the house and gave them bancha tea and talked to them about the Dhamma - they never came back.
These days I just politely say "thank you, but no thanks".
kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725